January 25, 2019

Altarage - The Approaching Roar

By Bryan Camphire. The Approaching Roar is the third record for Bilbao's blackened death metal act Altarage, released on Season of Mist. The set consists of nine songs and clocks in at 43 minutes. In this span, the group reveals an agenda

By Bryan Camphire.

The Approaching Roar is the third record for Bilbao's blackened death metal act Altarage, released on Season of Mist. The set consists of nine songs and clocks in at 43 minutes. In this span, the group reveals an agenda that takes the listener through a broad spectrum ranging from bizarre twisted outer-limits to raw adrenaline fueled fist-pumping anthems. All the while, the sound palate is focused and distilled down to maximum potency. The resulting din is indeed a bestial and ferocious roar.

What makes their music so thrilling is that they take the oppressive sounds of their influences and polish them. The effect on their music is that of increasing the contrast in a photograph. In the hands of Altarage, blacks get deeper, brights more blinding, angles get sharper, textures more abrasive.

"Sighting", the opening track, is both hypnotic and startling. It starts with down-tuned acoustic guitar tremolo picked in a minor key almost flamenco style. This lulls the listener into a whirling trance for a spell. Then the full band crashes in like a violent tidal wave, upending everything in its wake. Altarage really have a masterful control of pacing, in one minute they can drone you a dream-like state, in the next they'll pummel you mercilessly, and eventually they'll lock into an irresistible rhythm and defy you not to bang your head.

"Inhabitant", the sixth track, is another highlight. The guitars seem to mimic a cigarette being snuffed out on your skin. The band kicks in and amplifies this and suddenly you feel like your whole body is being somehow drilled into the Earth while you're helpless to resist the music's momentum. Two minutes in there’s a breakdown—the album is full of these dramatic moments that make you sit up and pay attention—war drums fall into a mid-tempo lock-step. Suddenly this music that up to this point had sounded so alien and strange cracks its whip and you find the need to bang your head under the strange spell of the song.

Altarage have created a set that is measured and rarified. The black and white visual aesthetic of the album art is a compelling visual cue for the ideas that make The Approaching Roar so arresting. It's a record of high contrast, displaying a clear sound saturated with strangeness and emotion for their most powerful LP yet.